With its trademark red coloring, the male cardinal is an easily recognizable backyard bird.
With a habitat encompassing nearly all of eastern and central North America from Canada down to Mexico and Central America, the Northern Cardinal is one of the most-recognized backyard birds in the United States. You probably first think of the male cardinal's vivid red plumage when describing the bird, but many other physical characteristics define Northern Cardinals.
Coloration
Brilliant red cardinals have long been used in holiday decor, often juxtaposed with white snow for even more impact. It is true that male cardinals are always bright red, except for the black "masks" on their faces. Female cardinals, however, have a bit more variation in their coloration; with most of their bodies a color ranging from beige to grayish to greenish-brown. Instead of a black mask, female cardinals may have a bit of dark brown coloring on their faces. Red feathers are often interspersed with the brown on the females' wings and tails.
Both male and female cardinals have the same thick, bright orange beak. Both genders are also marked by the distinctive feathered crest atop their heads, bright red for males and matching the body color of females.
Cardinal legs are a yellow-tan and have four toes on each foot.
Size
Cardinals are one of the larger songbirds you are likely to see visiting your neighborhood bird feeder. The slightly larger males are around 9 1/4 inches long, while females average 8 1/4 inches. Both males and females weigh about 1.5 ounces. Northern Cardinals have a wingspan of about a foot.
Cardinal Breeding Characteristics
Cardinals tend to be "serially monogamous," meaning that they pair off and raise young with one other bird at a time but may not mate for life. Pairing starts in early spring with the male cardinal's courtship displays and feeding behavior designed to lure a mate.
Cardinals raise two broods of about four babies a year, one in earlier spring, usually March; and one in late summer, from July to September. The female serves as chief incubator, sitting on the eggs for the 12 days it takes them to hatch while the male brings her food. After hatching, the baby birds are fed by both parents exclusively until they leave the nest at about 11 to 13 days of age, after which time they will find their own food while still accepting supplementary food from their parents until they are past the fledgling state at between 25 and 55 days of age.
Cardinal Behavior and Singing
Cardinals are one of the few songbirds where both the male and female sing. In the early spring, the male cardinal sings to help attract a mate; and females tend to sing while they are incubating their clutch of eggs. Cardinal songs sound like, "cheer, cheer, cheer" or "chink, chink."
Since cardinals do not migrate, most birds live within a scant mile of where they were first hatched. They prefer to live at the edge of forests where they can easily access gardens and yards that may have bird feeders. Dining on fruits and seeds as well as insects, cardinals are a popular and frequent guest at backyard feeders.
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